12.22.2008

I’m not one to fall for trends. Namely food trends. I didn’t pick up molecular gastronomy, I’ve never deep-fried a turkey, and, for the most part, I’ve dodged the bacon bullet. See, all the food blogs have been blowing up with bacon antics. Lattice bacon over pies, formed bacon cups for salad, chocolate-dipped bacon with bacon on top. I get it, second only to topping anything with a poached egg, adding bacon where bacon hasn’t gone before will instantly boost your web traffic. Got it. People like bacon.

I had no plans of incorporating bacon into my holiday baking, but it seemed to happen without my will. I was shopping for cooking equipment in LA, and I came across an adorable pig cookie cutter. Then I turned the corner to find pink sanding sugars. It had to happen. Pig cookies. Pig cookies with bacon.

I did quite a bit of research to see what other baco-philes had done before. There were a few bacon grease drop cookies, a bacon shortbread, and a chocolate-chip cookie with a bacon garnish. None of these would roll out. I decided to modify a standard rollout cookie, reducing the butter by a quarter to compensate for what the bacon would add. Just to be safe I crisped up the bacon nicely and drained it well on some paper towels.Per the recipe, I chilled the dough, rolled it out, added my pink sugar and baked them up.

And then the moment of truth.

They’re good. Really. And it’s been insanely fun giving them to people. I like to not tell them that there’s bacon in them, then let them taste, squint, and furrow their brow trying to identify the mystery flavor. It’s not overt—an added savory factor to a rich cookie. Then they look at me, look at the pig-shaped cookie and put two and two together. Oh, this is a good one.